by Tara Brown
I slept for what seemed like an eternity and was more tired when I finally woke completely. Coop was back, sleeping in the bed again. He was under the covers and not wearing a shirt as far as I could see. I bit my lip and resisted the urge to look. Instead, I snuck from the room to see Jack doing the same across the hall. He smiled. “Sleep well?”
“No.” I yawned. “I don’t think so. I’m still really tired.”
He laughed. “You’ve been there for forty hours, Evie. Any longer and we were going to have to cryofreeze you.”
“It has not been forty hours.”
He gave me his blank stare as my answer.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You woke once, drank a ton of water from the bathroom tap and peed with the door open.” He pointed at my face. “The swelling’s improved. Are you feeling better?”
“No. I’m beat.” My stomach grumbled and we both stared at it while I contemplated peeing in front of everyone. Why couldn't I be cool just once?
He scoffed. “Apparently, you are also starved.”
“Forty hours, no wonder.” I made my way to the kitchen where my mom and Fitz were laughing like it was old times. He gave me a wide smile as I sat at the bar. “My precious. How are you? Are you hungry?”
"Oh dear." My mom laughed at me before I could answer. “I know that face. She hasn’t had coffee in ages.”
“Oh.” Fitz started the espresso maker. “Lucky I brought some coffee back from Italy.” He rolled his eyes. “I assumed you all would forget to get things from the shops.”
“With all our free time,” I muttered bitterly.
Jack sat next to me at the bar. “This is the best coffee I’ve had in ages.”
Luce entered the kitchen and plopped onto the barstool next to Jack. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. He closed his eyes and pressed into it. Coop came around the corner, making a face at their kissing. “Get a room!”
I shoved him as he walked by. “Don’t encourage that. They’re sleeping in my room.”
He laughed. “Oh yeah, use the barn.”
Mom’s eyes flashed when he said that.
I cocked an eyebrow at the same time as Coop. We both asked, “What?”
He punched me in the arm lightly. “You owe me a Heineken.”
“Ow!” I rubbed my arm. “It’s a Coke and no. Mom, what was that look?”
“Oh uhm.” Mom swallowed hard. “Well, the barn is so dirty and nasty. Who would ever want to have relations in there? It smells and it’s getting cold out now. Have you noticed? Shall I go get the kids from school?”
I got up and walked to the front door, following Coop who already had it open.
“Just leave it, you two.”
Coop was remarking something snarky as he crossed the dry grass to the barn. He pulled open the door. “Shit.”
Steve was inside, hanging upside down, bleeding into a pot on the ground.
“What the fuck?” I gagged a little. I really did need some coffee to start the day off. “Oh my god. Mother! We can't leave him there like that.”
Steve moaned, making Coop and I jump back. His hands gripped my shirt as firmly as I gripped his. Coop was wide-eyed as he whispered, “He’s alive.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” I whispered back, sounding just like my dad.
Steve moaned again. Coop gave me a disgusted look. “Are those spots where she peeled the skin off?”
“What?” I turned away. “Oh my God.” I cried out again.
Coop took a deep breath. “Wow, I haven’t seen that before.”
Mom came out of the house. “Darlings, just leave him. He’s making some serious life decisions.”
I pointed. “MOM!”
She sighed. “This is why I never told you.” Jack and Luce had followed her out of the house. Jack covered his mouth like he might be sick at any second. He grabbed Luce’s hand and dragged her back into the house. I could tell by her confused face, she hadn’t seen it.
Coop pulled me back from the barn as my mom walked in and cut the rope, dropping Steve on his back onto the ground and the blood bucket. I bent over, gagging. I hadn’t eaten in so long that my body was completely devoid of anything to throw up. So I retched as Coop rubbed my back. “Don’t look. Just don’t look.” I knew it was bad when he looked disgusted. He usually didn’t show much emotion.
Fitz came out of the house, still wearing an apron. He had a coffee for me. Coop took it from him. “You guys are disgusting. Just shoot him for Christ’s sake.”
Fitz motioned at Steve. “This is a highly effective way of getting the truth. Trust me, he told your mom things he didn’t know he knew.”
I walked back to the house. When I was inside, I shuddered and returned to my barstool. Coop came in a moment later, putting the coffee down for me. I sipped but the image of the dark blood spilling out was stuck on repeat in my head.
Coop and I sat at the bar, staring at the counter on the far side. Finally, he spoke, “I slept with you. I should have asked, but I actually woke up to a back cramp in the middle of my sleep. I didn't want to disturb you.”
“It’s fine. I just can't believe she peeled his skin off.”
He shuddered. “I can't talk about that right now. Distract me.”
“I like it when you sleep with me?" It came out as a question.
He nudged me. “I like sleeping with you too.”
I couldn’t face him and say it, but I had to say it. So I continued to stare at the counter and muttered, “I like you when you aren’t being an asshole.”
“I more than like you, even when you’re being an asshole,” he confessed.
“I feel like an idiot around you.” I confessed even more.
"You are an idiot,” he teased.
“And you're an asshole!” I shoved him off his barstool.
He started laughing. “If I let you in, Evie, it’s going to be all the way and then neither of us will ever go back.” He got up and left me with that. That and blood-bucket images.
A week later, I watched the moving truck drive away with all my new things. Jack waved out the window as he rounded the corner. I gave Coop a confused look. “Can he drive anything?”
“Yeah. Huge rigs, planes, jets, helicopters, ships—you name it. He’s pretty handy to have around. He was actually at NASA for a year before the whole space program started going tits up and CI grabbed him.”
“He’s so young.”
“He was only fifteen when he started university.”
I laughed. “Luce is his first girlfriend, isn’t she?”
Coop snorted. “Yeah.”
“I like that. He is so in love.”
Coop’s eyes glazed over again. I rolled my eyes as Mitch came out of the house with a grin. “So where we going, Coop?”
Coop walked over, smacking him in the arm. “If I told ya, I’d have to kill ya.”
Mitch’s eyes gleamed with adoration. Where I was always wrong in Mitch’s, Coop never was. Jules ran out of the house holding the stuffed bunny Coop had bought her from the crappy toy store. She jumped at him, but looked at me as he lifted her into the air. “Is Grandma coming too?”
“She is, and then she’s going to go ahead and meet up with Aunty Luce and Uncle Jack.”
“Uncle Fitz is coming too?"
“Uncle Fitz is flying us somewhere special and then he’s going with Grandma.”
She beamed. “I love his plane.”
Mom and Fitz came out of the house. She gave me a hard stare. “I think we have everything.”
I folded my arms and walked to her as Coop wrangled the kids into the SUV for me. I pointed a finger. “What did you do with him? I want to know.”
Mom huffed, “You realize leaving people alive is leaving a loose end for your enemies to use against you?”
“I can't believe you. I can't believe you would have hurt him like that. What did you learn? What could you possibly have learned? Torture doesn't work, it's been proven.”
"That's such nonsense." Fitz gave me a sad smile. “You should know though, Steve was not an agent. He was dispatched to find you by MI6, but he wasn’t an agent. I think he truly thought he was doing the right thing. He was just a pawn in it all.”
"You keep saying ‘was.’”
Mom gave Fitz a look. Fitz nodded and Mom turned back to me. “He's dead.”
“You guys are sick. You killed an innocent person.”
Mom’s eyes stared hard. “I’ve killed dozens of innocent people, Evie. It’s the hard part of the job. You don’t work for a man like Servario and expect to come out scot-free. Steve knew what possibilities his future entailed.” She continued, “If he was an agent, your kids’ lives would’ve been at risk. He knew enough not to tell them where he was, but he was being tracked. He was being followed. He could have led them here. As it is, he still feels like a loose end to me.”
Fitz agreed, “Me too. I feel like we should expect something bad at any second.”
I had no argument. I just changed the subject, “Do you know where Dad is?”
She continued, “He’s hiding, of course. The golden rule of the Burrow is that when you leave, you die. If you resurface, you are dead. That’s how Servario has the whole world fooled about his not being the old Master Key. He has resurfaced after his many deaths and never been killed off. Now he’s back out in the open, living free.”
“How come they haven’t killed him off?” I asked.
Fitz smiled. “That is an excellent question.”
Coop honked the horn. “We better go.”
“See you at the plane,” Fitz called out.
I gave Mom a displeased look. “You will stay here until the people come for the key?”
She smiled. “I will. Donating the house to the foster system is a great idea.”
I nodded and walked away. “Yeah.” I didn’t want to talk about it with her. I was still pissed about the skinning and bleeding in the barn, fifty feet from my kids.
17
When cougars come home to roost
We walked up the steps of the massive lodge, certain the uneasy feeling showed on my face when Coop smiled at me nicely. “It’s gonna be great. Can you just mellow out?”
“No. This is a terrible idea.”
He laughed. “Are you scared of my mom, badass Evie Evans?”
“Yes. I’m almost ten years older than you and I have two kids. I look like I was out daddy hunting when I found you at the same school my kids go to.”
Coop laced his arm around my back. “My mom’s gonna love you. She isn’t one of those judgmental people. She isn’t gonna care how old you are.”
He had no idea.
Mitch and Jules walked up to us. Mitch smiled wide. He and Jules loved that Coop and I were close. They didn't know it was all an act, something I hated myself for, tricking my kids into believing. They didn’t know we were hiding out at Coop’s parents’ place while Mom and Fitz got the new house ready and Jack and Luce drove our stuff all over the countryside.
Separating had seemed like a great idea. Going to Coop's parents’ seemed like an awful idea. They owned a massive lodge in Alaska. He wasn’t kidding when he said he was a country boy. I gripped my parka to me. “Come on, guys.”
The kids bounded up the steps. Mitch beamed at Coop. He had a boy crush on him. He thought Coop was the coolest guy in the whole world. I sneered at Coop who laughed at me. “It’s not going to be easy for me either.”
Mitch frowned. “What isn’t?”
“Waiting for our new house to be ready.” I smiled.
“Oh.” Mitch nodded. “I’m pretty excited but this house is super cool, Coop.”
Jules beamed. “It is super cool. Look at the logs—I never seen a log house before.”
I bent down and kissed her cheek. “I have never seen a log house before, not just seen.”
She scowled. “Whatever.”
I gave Mitch a dirty look. “This is your doing. Stop being sassy around her.”
Coop knocked once and opened the door. “Mom, Dad?”
A man in his early sixties came around the corner. He was the older version of Coop. Handsome and fit, and obviously an ex-company man. He had CIA written all over him. He smiled wide. “John! Come on in, son. This must be your lady friend, Evelyn.”
Coop laughed. “Yeah, this my friend Evie. These are her kids, Mitch and Jules.” He beamed at his dad. “This is my dad, John Senior.”
John? I smiled harder, my cheeks started to ache. I put a hand out, but he grabbed me and hugged me firmly. He was like a tree trunk.
His mom came around the corner. She was plainly shocked and pasted a sweet smile on her lips. Yeah, I’d seen that coming. I too had a son. The idea of some older woman coming along and stealing my sweet boy made me psycho too.
She spoke in the fakest voice I had ever heard, “Evelyn, why you are pretty as a picture. And your kids, they’re so big and so old.” Her emphasis on “your” and “old” was unmistakable. I was going to murder Coop. Soon.
She hugged me lightly, suggesting she didn’t really want to touch me, patting my back flatly.
Jules gave her a funny look and Mitch stayed back, this after hugging Coop’s dad. I could tell immediately that Coop's mom was older. I almost cocked an eyebrow, but I forced my face to stay frozen and sweet. I stepped in close to Coop and pinched the back of his arm through his coat. He laughed when he felt my grip. “Evie, this is Suzanne, my mom.”
We all stood there, surrounded by the great old white elephant in the room—me.
Coop started to chuckle. I could hear the nerves in his voice, “Mitch, Jules, let me show you to your rooms.”
His mother’s face went red. “No, no, let me.”
Jules clung to my arm. Coop picked her up, smiling at her. “I’ll come just to see where they are. It’s hard to sneak in later when they’re sleeping and put bugs in their beds, if I don’t know where they are.”
Jules wrinkled her nose. “Coop! Gross.” She giggled. Mitch did too. I smiled and couldn’t even stop myself.
He truly was comfortable with kids. The awkwardness was always reserved for me.
My kids, desperate for a male role model, latched on for dear life. It was a bit sad. Suzanne gave him a look and motioned her head. “This way. Ignore him, Jules. He’s always been the naughty one. He’s the baby of the family, and he thinks that buys him some kind of favor with us.”
Coop gave his mom that smile that melted hearts for miles. “It does and you know it. I’m your favorite.”
She laughed and smacked him in the arm. “You used to be. Now you never come home.”
They walked away, but I didn’t budge from the front door entryway. John Senior gave me a smile. “He is her favorite. She spoiled him, if you ask me. The military was the only thing that saved that kid’s ass. Come on in, Evie. You want a drink?”
“Can I say yes? Is that bad?”
He chuckled. “Nope.”
I had the distinct feeling he understood my pain or maybe my fake relationship.
He stood at the bar in the massive family room. “You want red wine, liquor, beer, or a fruity drink? I think we have some of them around here.”
He was a bit twangy but very ex-CIA. I narrowed my gaze. “Red wine would be amazing, please. How many years were you CIA?”
He started to laugh. “Smart girl. CIA. I was never CI like you kids. Counter Intelligence always felt like lying and being up front about the fact you were lying. I preferred to lie on the sly.” He passed me a large glass of red wine. “Some cute kids you got there.”
“Yeah. They're literally all I have in the whole world.”
His eyes twinkled. “You mean, besides John.”
“Right, Coop. I always forget William Cooper isn’t his real name.” I sipped the wine. “Yes, I suppose he’s something I have too.”
I didn’t need to tell him Coop and I weren’t together. It was evident in his face. He assumed I was being protected. He
knew the truth, at least some of it. I nodded at the stairs. “Does she know everything?”
His eyes gleamed away and his mouth had the same crooked smile Coop always got. “She does not. She knows I worked for the company, that’s it.” He winked. “Need to know has always been her way.”
My throat thickened. “This might be one of those need to know things.”
“I'll let ya know when I think we're at need to know.”
“All right.” I lifted my hand in the air. “Fair enough.”
He began after a minute of awkward silence, “I knew your dad well.”
“Really?”
He drank a gulp of his bourbon. “Smart man.”
A disgruntled sigh slipped from my lips. “Sometimes being too smart is a bad thing.”
“Well, I'll drink to that.”
Coop came down into the living room and grabbed himself a beer. He cracked it and sat next to me. “You two trading secrets already?”
“No.” His father winked at me. “Just telling bad stories about you.”
Coop lifted his beer. “At least you'll never have an awkward silence.” He smiled at me. “The kids seem to really dig the cool rooms they got. Mitch has Wi-Fi so we’ll probably never see him again, and Jules discovered the Barbie bin my sister's kids play with.”
I was about to remark when the front door burst open. Kids and adults came barreling in. Coop's eyes narrowed. He turned and gave his dad a look. John Senior shrugged. “You know what she's like.”
“You might have warned us.”
Coop’s dad laughed at him. “First girl ya ever brought home—what did you think was gonna happen?”
A tall blonde with a beautiful face attacked first. “JOHN!” She ran at him. I watched as they swarmed. It made me miss Sissy. I wondered how she was making out with all the craziness in our lives. My family might have been small and full of lies, but we did love one another.
Coop was eaten up by the crowd. I sat, frozen and completely afraid. Our family had never been like that. Our version of love was reserved and polite. Dad only ever doled out a hug, and then he’d slide the arm around your shoulders and make you “walk with him.” Coop's family was scary. The small kids hugged Coop, screaming things like “chase us” and “do the sock monster.” He chuckled and tossed children about. At least his skills with kids made sense.